Latinos in United States

Universidad de Puerto Rico
Culturas Latinas en E.U.
In the early 1800s, Spain’s colonies in America were much richer and bigger in territory than the U.S. By the mid-1800s, most of Spain’s colonies broke into much smaller separate countries and lost power, while the U.S. gained power and territory (Harvest Empire, Chapter 2, page 27).
According to Gonzalez, some often describe the American model, in contrast to the ill-suited Spanish model, as one that was fundamentally suited for power and expansion. However, as Gonzalez argues in the chapter, his views are not particularly in accord with the general consensus because these views “ignore the discordant and unequal relationship that emerged between the US and Latin America from the first days of independence.” (Page 27). The United States expansion pattern is quite simply explained by the country’s desire for growth, which came from a place feeling threatened by the possibility of Latin American territories growing, and at one point becoming a credible threat to U.S. power. However, given the times, as Gonzalez explains, one of the main reasons the U.S. felt it could not allow for these areas of Latin America to become independent (even if their governments were modeled after the American revolution) was because they were headed towards eradicating slavery. As part of the expansion pattern, North-American merchants and traders supported weak Latin-American leaders only to overthrow them and later annex these territories.

Hostile behavior from the U.S. toward Latin Americans as they fought towards their independence was a shock to Latin American leaders since their strategies for independence were based on the American Revolution, and because of the support various Latin Americans gave to the U.S. during said war. (Page 29) However the truth behind this disloyal behavior from the United States was once again based on the country’s interest in some of these Spanish occupied territories. During this North-American expansion pattern one the most affected countries in terms of loss of territory was Mexico; as most Mexicans began to be forced out of the lands that were known to them since their births. As they conquered lands, Native Americans were pushed farther west, they were herded onto reservations, and several million Mexicans, Cubans, Filipinos, and Puerto Ricans, were placed under U.S. sovereignty. (page 30) As part of their expansion, most of the commerce that began to form in these newly conquered lands were Anglo owned businesses. So, even though business was “booming”, the ones benefiting from these profits weren’t the natives. Many who were once considered in high regard in their land now were seen and treated as second class citizens. One prime example of how Anglos where taking over is Texas; most of the Anglos who immigrated to Texas were mostly drawn to this area because of how inexpensive land was to purchase. Even though the Anglos were able to annex so many lands, territories, etc. it is not to be said that they did so without a fight. One of the most important and famous pieces of evidence of this was the Battle for the Alamo, where a large Mexican army led by General Santa Anna fought against (and won) the newly arrived Texans and Tejanos for what he believed to be Mexican land. All of this can be and is correlated to the migration of Puerto Ricans in 1898 and Mexican migrations after 1900. As Carmen Whalen states, and as would any basic Puerto Rican history class will teach you, Puerto Rico has been subjected to colonization more than once; first by the Spanish and later (and currently) by the United States. Before 1898 Puerto Rican migration was infrequent, as only local merchants, more specifically those who were in the tobacco business, would travel to the United States to sell their products. Of course many of those who did migrate to the United States were pursuing a “safe haven” as they were seeking independence from Spanish rule. (Colonialism Before and After 1898, page 4) Many of the cities that Puerto Ricans were settling into before 1898 would not have a significant Puerto Rican or even Latin population until much later. Of the merchants that arrived to the United States, most were involved with the sugar trade. Sixty percent (60%) of the sugar that was made in Puerto Rico was exported to the U.S.; and those who would ship the sugar would settle in the ports of Philadelphia. Those Puerto Rican merchants who worked in tobacco/cigar making and those who were political exiles would have more concentrated communities. (page 5) They were considered prominent members of the community because of their political activism towards the Independence of Spanish rule (the majority of these would settle in New York). In 1898, during the Spanish-Cuban-American war, it became obvious that the United States wanted to acquire Puerto Rico. As mentioned before, the United States had expanded from coast to coast and a territory in the Caribbean presented an extreme advantage as it would provide for a perfect naval base. Whalen provides us with many quotations from an article of The New York Times in which the author, Amos Fiske, comes to the general conclusion that it would be in the best interest of Puerto Ricans to become a part of the United State because Puerto Rico could not be self-governed. As many Latin Americans felt with the annexation of their territories, Puerto Ricans in many ways could feel a sense of betrayal from the U.S., as their relationship before this was amicable and supportive when P.R. sought independence from Spain.
In 1898 after signing the Treaty of Paris Puerto Rico officially became a territory of the United States. As per the opinion of Fiske, Puerto Rico would not elect the islands leaders, they would be appointed. The government placed would be highly military based and no autonomy would be given to Puerto Ricans. Concurrently, not everyone in the United States felt that these proceedings were ethical, as many democrats argued that it went against the rights of the locals; especially when The Foraker Act “severely limit[ed] civilian involvement in their own government…and would involve taxation without representation”, all of which went against the democratic philosophies the U.S. was built on. (page 6) After Puerto Rico became a part of the U.S. in 1901 its economy became worse and worse. Instead of seeing it as a problem, because of the limitations placed on P.R. by the Foraker Act, the blame was placed on over-population. The then placed governor, Charles Allen, enforced and promoted the migration toward the U.S. as a solution to the economic crisis. Of course, Allen wasn’t the only governor who promoted this idea. The people of P.R. were told that if they migrated to the U.S., better jobs and salaries would be promised. As a result the first large migration of Puerto Ricans occurred, in 1901 that would be sent to Hawaii another U.S. territory. “U.S. owned corporations recruited 5,000 Puerto Rican workers” (page 7). As we can see the migration of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans to and within the United States were largely based on them being forced out of their native lands. They no longer felt at home in their lands, and because of the promise of better opportunities in other regions. Many of these reasons is why to this day the migration of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans to the U.S. happens in such great figures.